Digital Marketing Agency for Local Businesses | GetBerq

If you’ve noticed changes in how Google displays search results lately, you’re not imagining it. AI Overviews — Google’s AI-generated summaries powered by Gemini — now appear at the very top of search results for millions of queries every day, sitting above the Local Pack and organic listings. For local businesses, this is one of the most significant shifts in search since mobile-first indexing.

What Are AI Overviews, Exactly?

AI Overviews are automatically generated answer boxes that compile information from across the web and present it in a concise summary at the top of Google Search. When someone searches “best HVAC company near me” or “how to find a local plumber,” they may now see an AI-written response before any map results or website links.

The critical detail: Google’s AI sources this content by citing real web pages. That means if your website’s content is structured correctly, your business can get featured inside an AI Overview — putting your brand in front of searchers before they even scroll down. It’s free exposure at the top of Google, but only if you know how to earn it.

How AI Overviews Are Affecting Local Search

Studies show that pages featuring AI Overviews have seen organic click-through rates drop by 18–27% for informational queries, as users get their answers directly from the summary. But local searches behave differently. When someone is looking for a business to hire — a contractor, a dentist, a restaurant — they still click through to the Local Pack and Google Maps to compare options and take action.

The bottom line: local SEO isn’t becoming less important — the format is evolving. Businesses that adapt their content strategy now will dominate both AI citations and local rankings simultaneously.

5 Steps to Prepare Your Local Business for AI Overviews

1. Strengthen your E-E-A-T signals. Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness are the criteria Google’s AI uses to decide which content is worth citing. Add real client case studies, before/after results, team bios with credentials, and genuine testimonials to your service pages. Generic content doesn’t get featured.

2. Create question-and-answer content. AI Overviews are built to answer questions. Structure your blog posts and service pages to directly answer the questions your customers are actually typing — “how much does X cost in [city],” “what’s the best way to [solve problem],” “how do I find a reliable [service] near me.” Add a dedicated FAQ section to every key page on your site.

3. Implement structured data (schema markup). LocalBusiness, FAQ, and HowTo schema tell Google’s AI exactly what your content is about and how it should be understood. This technical step is one of the clearest signals you can send — and most of your local competitors aren’t doing it.

4. Keep your Google Business Profile active. AI Overviews for local searches pull signals directly from GBP data. Businesses with consistent weekly posts, updated photos, and a strong review velocity appear more authoritative to Google’s systems — and that authority flows into AI results.

5. Fix your page speed. Google won’t cite content from slow websites, no matter how good it is. Check your Core Web Vitals score for free at PageSpeed Insights — aim for 90+ on mobile. Every second of load time costs you ranking potential and AI citations.

The Bottom Line

AI Overviews aren’t going away — they’re going to expand. The businesses that build E-E-A-T authority, structure their content for AI readability, and maintain strong local signals right now will own those top-of-page placements for years to come. Waiting is the most expensive option.

At GetBerq, we help local U.S. businesses build exactly this kind of SEO foundation — from content strategy and GBP management to technical optimization. Reach out here if you want to talk through what this means for your specific business.